It’s been a tumultuous year for Dubai, talk of people leaving cars in the airport, rumors about layoffs and the international media turned the city into a ghost town with tumbleweed rolling through the city streets.
The truth is, it’s been a tough year but the city is still vibrant, Burj Dubai is set for a grand opening tomorrow, and the weather is still beautiful. Nonetheless, 2009 saw many stories appear in the news. Here’s a quick recap of the top stories according to Google News:
January 2009: It was a good start to the year, the biggest news of the month was actually the Dubai Desert Classic, and Henrik Stenson’s contentious win. Nakheel was mulling the idea of selling shares to the public and Haile Gebrselassie made me feel inferior at the Standard Chartered Marathon.
February 2009: This month saw a little more controversy than Jan. An Israeli tennis player was denied entry to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship, and a book was banned from the Literary Festival, allegedly because of the portrayal of a gay character.
March 2009: Wales won the Rugby Sevens, Dubai’s public decency laws made the news globally and Vladimir Putin was in hot water over the murder of Chechen Warlord who fell out with the Kremlin!
April 2009: the Dubai World Cup was a success, the last horse race to be held at the Nad El Sheba venue and it was a blast. A camel was cloned, Dubai World fell out of love with MGM Mirage, and the controversy over the assassination of the Chechen leader in Dubai continued.
May 2009: Dubai Tennis Championships paid a record $300,000 for refusing to grant an Israeli Tennis player a visa, Sheikh Mohammed dismissed his popular finance chief, Nasser Al-Shaikh, and a Briton got some jail time for admitting to adultery.
June 2009: Another British couple get some jail time, Paris Hilton arrives in Dubai to find her BFF and Emaar announced a potential merger with three state-controlled property firms.
July 2009: The second tranche of a $20 Billion bond is launched, Dubai is now the most expensive Arab city for expatriates, Standard & Poor’s cuts the ratings on four more companies and there are talks about turning the QE2 into a floating hotel.
August 2009: Talks of delays at Dubai Land, the region’s answer to Disney Land, Dubai World puts some of its international projects on hold and concern over Dubai World’s debt, estimated at $60 Billion, surface. Looking back at it now, we should have known the end is neigh for Nakheel and the others at Dubai World.
September 2009: The Dubai Metro opened up to much controversy and objection. I was amongst the ranks of those who criticized it, but now that I’ve tried it, I am a fan! A deal to sell a stake in Dubai Ports fell through and some saw this as a positive sign since the city avoided a fire sale of some of its prized assets.
October 2009: A relatively quiet month. The big news was Dubai placing $1.2 BN worth of bonds on the international markets.
November 2009: This was the most active month for Dubai, the big news was, not surprisingly, was that Dubai may default on its debt. Stock markets around the world collapsed and the international media had a field day. The city’s residents were, naturally, spooked.
December 2009: The big day arrived and Abu Dhabi gave Dubai another $10 Billion which helped the city pay back its debt on time. A host of public holidays came and went and we were all eagerly awaiting the end of a rocky year!
So, to all our readers a Happy New Year, and hope to inform and entertain you in the 2010!
